Mayor

A mayor in the United Kingdom is the head of a city.

England
In England, the offices of mayor and lord mayor have long been ceremonial posts, with few or no duties attached to them. In recent years they have doubled as more influential political roles while retaining the ceremonial functions. A mayor's term of office denotes the municipal year. The most famous example is that of the Lord Mayor of the City of London.

Traditionally mayors and provosts have been elected by town, borough and city councils. Since 2000, several districts now have directly elected mayors with extensive powers.

See borough status in the United Kingdom for a list of English districts to have a borough charter (and therefore a mayor). The role of the chairman of a district council is exactly the same as the mayor of a borough council, and they have the same status as first citizen, after the Sovereign, in their district, but they are not addressed as mayor.

Wales
In Wales, the office of Mayor or Lord Mayor (respectively in Welsh Maer and Arglwydd Faer) had long been ceremonial posts, with little or no duties attached to it. Traditionally mayors have been elected by town, borough and city councils. Since 2000, councils can decide to have directly elected mayors with extensive powers if such a proposal is approved in a local referendum.

Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, if a local government district has borough status then the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the borough council may be styled Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively. These provisions date from the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972; some towns already had borough status which was carried over to their post-1972 district, while other districts later petitioned for a charter granting borough status. The head of Belfast City Council has been styled Lord Mayor of Belfast since 1892.